The Heavy Metal & Rock Thread

This is a discussion on The Heavy Metal & Rock Thread within Shifting gears, part of the Around the Corner category; Originally Posted by amitoj
Anyone going for the Lamb Of God concert tomorrow?
I'm sadly missing it since I have ...

@suhaas the G3 in Tokyo I have has Petrucci on it and not Malmsteen. Its alright I suppose and I do like Petrucci's Glasgow Kiss on it. Vai is brilliant on his "For the love of God" as well. I think I got it in PlanetM.

Some other DVDs I love -
Testament - Live in London (with the classic line-up)
Opeth - Live Lamentations (complete Damnation album with only a few heavy songs)
Iced Earth - Alive in Athens (fan of Jon Schaeffer's rhythm/riffs)
Judas Priest - Rising in the East (amazing disc as well - no extras but great show)

G3 with Petrucci is alright. Vai's 'For The Love Of God' is one of the most memorable solos ever! Somehow, Malmsteen doesn't sound right. Agreed, some of his work is fantastic, like Blitzkrieg, Far Beyond The Sun, Rising Force and Black Star; but it just doesn't hit the spot IMO.

Vai's variety is great but again, he isn't experimental enough. The 'Bad Horsie' riff sounds dastardly. Tender Surrender and For The Love Of God are great as well!

But recently, I've found Buckethead's song writing abilities to be on a different level altogether! (Speaking of which, I recently acquired the whole 'Buckehead Live At Aggie Theatre' DVD. It consists of a few Jimi Hendrix covers like Foxy Lady)

Soothsayer is an absolute masterpiece and so is Nottingham Lace. The solos in these songs are probably the best I've heard ever! Trust me on this! Songs like 'Siege Engine' and 'Forgotten Trail - Extended Shred Mix : iTunes Version) are a bit thrashy and the shredding seems a little overdone on the latter but it still sounds great IMO.

Compare these songs to others in his Discography (or even in the same album!) like 'Sail On Soothsayer' (which happens to be a sequel to the original masterpiece - Soothsayer), 'Coma', 'Whitewash', 'I Love My Parents', 'For Mom', 'Witches On The Heath', 'The Way To Heaven', 'Padmasana', etc. and you'll realize that he isn't about pure mindless shredding! There is so much melody in these songs it's almost unbelievable! All the aforementioned songs in this paragraph are all emotional, slow and heart touching compositions that will blow you away!

And then you've got your regular mainstream experimental and regular progressive rock compositions such as 'The Redeem Team', 'Plastination Station', 'Flock Of Slunks', 'Asylum Of Glass', 'Ghost Host', 'Gory Head Stump '06 The Pageant', 'Jordan' and 'Jump Man'. The last two have brilliant solos as well!

The things that this guy can do with the guitar! He's a genius, a mad man if you will! I rate him very highly among the respected lot. Right up there with Frank Zappa, Paul Gilbert, Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen, Hendrix, Petrucci, Van Halen, Angus Young, etc.

Abhay, Ampere, Naveen, do check out some of these tracks. I'm sure you'll be blown away!

I have listened to a bit of Buckethead (soothsayer) and I agree he is good. He has total command over the instrument (a bit like Petrucci).
But musically I'm more of a riff/harmony guy than a shred/solo person. I love my solos but a crushing riff gives me more goosebumps :-)

Got a new DVD : Queensryche Live Evolution. Terrific, though without Chris D Garmo. No live theatrics by the band. Just good music.

Also got new Knopfler album and decided to try Porcupine Tree (Got Deadwings). First Listen and I was blown away.
Need to give more listens before I come to some conclusions.

Could not find any Bucket head albums. Need to checkout more.

What's the Knopfler Ablum called? I would like to know! And I've listened to some Porcupine Tree and they are OK IMO. I think it needs to grow on me.

Buckethead albums are hard to come by. I don't think they're easily available in India. You can either download them illegally or pick them up from Amazon. But I suggest you listen to the studio recordings on YouTube before picking them up!

'A Real Diamond In The Rough', 'Crime Slunk Scene', 'Acoustic Shards', 'Cyborg Slunks', 'Albino Slug' and 'Enter The Chicken' are some nice albums to name a few. Definitely worth a listen!

EDIT: Ampere: I can lend you the DVD with all the 30-odd albums (1991-2010) by Buckethead if you're really that interested!

Suhaas, let me try the Amazon route first. Most people keep traveling in my office.
The Knopfler album is "Get Lucky". This one is after Kill to get Crimson. Its very good, but Sailing to Philadelphia is amazing.

I wanted to Porcupine Tree because I read somewhere that Riverside (which the latest band to climb into my favourites section) is a mix of Floyd and Porcupine Tree. It needs to grow further. Get Lucky is very good music.

Oh man, that is indeed sad news. Sad news indeed. I can still remember listening to "Holy Diver" and copying the tape of "Diamonds" from my friend. And painstakingly copy the lettering of "Dio" onto my copy for album cover. And my friend telling me that when looked at it upside down, it actually reads "Devil". R.I.P - will sorely be missed.

What an incredibly different voice he had. My avatar image should actually be attributed to him - horns!!